


Brother, Let Me Be Your Shelter

by Cocopops1995



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Batman And Robin - Freeform, Brotherly Bonding, Fear gas, Fluff, Gen, Mentions of Death, Mourning, Paparazzi, Puppies, Reunions, photo albums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-06 21:39:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18396875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocopops1995/pseuds/Cocopops1995
Summary: A collection of one-shots for Dick and Dami Week 2019 on Tumblr





	1. Dynamic Duo

“Hold it, Batman!”

Batman looks up from the man he had just knocked out to the man that had spoken. He stands a few meters away, aiming a gun right at Batman’s head.

“You’re done, Batman!” The man cries, the gun trembling in along with his hands. “There’s no way you can reach me before I pull the trigger!”

Batman regards the man for a moment, then says: “You’re right.”

The man obviously isn’t expecting the reply, but doesn’t get much time to ponder over it before a flurry of red, green, and yellow drops down onto him, effectively knocking him out.

Robin stands up with an accusatory scowl. “You left yourself unguarded.”

Batman fights the urge to smile as he surveys the warehouse, looking for any more men that might try to attack them. He idly wonders how many times he’d accused Batman of the same thing when he’d been Robin.

“I knew you had my back.” He tells Robin once he’s certain there are no more threats. 

“Tt. Foolish. What if I had still been occupied with one of the others?”

Batman gives up the fight and allows the corners of his mouth to tick up. “I would have bataranged him before he could have pulled the trigger.” He reaches out to squeeze Robin's shoulder, “I’m sorry to have worried you.” 

Robin scoffs at that but doesn’t argue. 

Batman’s smile grows and he has to fight the urge to ruffle his little brother’s hair. 

“Not bad for a night’s work.” Batman says some time later as they watch the police load an entire gang up into vans to be taken to prison from a nearby rooftop.

Beside him, Robin’s chest is puffed up with pride and a smirk, so much like his father’s, sits on his lips. “We are the greatest.”

Warmth blooms in Batman’s chest and this time he gives in to the urge to reach up and ruffle Robin’s hair.

Robin reacts in typical fashion - swatting Batman’s hand away and grumbling furiously. 

Batman chuckles. “Let’s go home.”

As one they pull out their grapnel guns, shoot out a line, and disappear into the night.


	2. Paparazzi

It was on a rainy afternoon that Dick wandered into the library to find Damian curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace with a book open on his lap.

 

“Hey, Dami.” Dick said, pulling his brother’s attention away from the book. “Whatcha got there?”

 

“Photo album.” Damian answers, flipping over a page. “One that seems to be fully comprised of pictures from newspapers, magazines, and other gossip sources.”

 

Dick’s perks up as he settles down next to Damian on the couch and leans over to see the pages Damian has open. “Oh! The paparazzi albums! Which volume are you on?”

 

“One.” Damian answers. “It looks to mostly be pictures of Grandmother and Grandfather.”

 

Dick’s eyes fell on a picture of a young laughing couple. He could easily pick out Bruce’s strong jawline on his father’s face, the same jawline that he’s sure Damian will develop as he grows older. 

 

“Father has Grandmother’s eyes.” Damian says after a moment. 

 

“Yeah.” Dick says, his gaze falling on the same striking blue eyes that he sees on Bruce. “And her smile too.”

 

Damian hums in agreement and turns over a page, this one showing various pictures of a pregnant Martha out and about in different locations in the city, doing everything from shopping for groceries to attending a Wayne Gala in a dress that billowed elegantly around her heavily pregnant figure. 

 

The next page showed pictures of Thomas and Martha holding their first and only son. Both of their faces positively glowing with happiness, and their eyes are so full of love. 

 

The next few pages show Bruce’s life in public snapshots. Together Dick and Damian got a glimpse into the earliest stages of his life. The pages are filled with a smiling and happy Wayne family going about their lives, all captured by various members of the paparazzi and saved in this book by Alfred.

 

Until the pictures suddenly end, with several blank pages still left in the book. 

 

Damian frowned. “Did Penny worth get tired of collecting pictures?” he asked.

 

“No.” Dick said quietly. “This last picture was taken a week before your grandparents were killed.”

 

“Oh.” Damian said, his own voice going quiet. 

 

“Alfred stopped collecting those pictures for a long while after they died.” Dick said, getting up and moving over to the bookshelf he knew Damian had taken the first volume from. “Mostly because he was too busy looking after Bruce, but also because there were hardly any pictures of Bruce in the newspapers or magazines after that, and he says that it hurt too much to save the few that he did find.”

 

Dick found the book he was looking for, marked  _ Vol. 2  _ and then sat back down next to Damian. He opened the second album to its first page, revealing a newspaper clipping of Bruce holding a small, dark-haired child which clung to him with obvious desparation, the boy’s head buried into Bruce’s huge shoulder. 

 

“That’s you?” Damian asked.

 

Dick nodded. “It was taken the night my parents died.”

 

Even though it happened so many years ago, Dick can still vividly remember how safe and warm Bruce’s arms had made him feel that night. When his whole world had crashed down around him, Bruce had been the only thing holding him together.

 

Dick flipped the page to another newspaper clipping, this one showing a picture of Bruce holding the same little boy in his arms, this time the boy’s face is turned toward the camera, his head resting on Bruce’s shoulder. Bruce himself is wearing the smallest of smiles.

 

“This was the day Bruce brought me home.” Dick says, remembering how awestruck he’d been that the one person who’d held him together the night his parents died had come back for him. “Alfred says that was the first time Bruce had really smiled in a long time.”

 

“So Pennyworth started collecting pictures again after Father took you in.” Damian observed. 

 

“Yeah, and he’s kept it up since then.” 

 

“Is that why the you don’t always get so mad at the paparazzi?”

 

Dick shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. As long as they’re not harassing us, and taking these kinds of photos, I don’t mind them too much. They are just doing their jobs after all.”

 

Damian hummed. 

 

Dick smiled and flung his arm over his baby brother’s shoulders. “The pictures get pretty entertaining from here on out. I got Bruce and I got into all sorts of mischief that the paparazzi caught us red-handed in. And you won't believe the crazy shots Alfred found of Bruce and Jason!”

 

Damian smiled and flipped the page.


	3. Fear Gas/Injury

A terrified whimper escapes Batman’s lips. 

“Shhh.” Robin says, running his thumb up along Batman’s jaw in an effort to comfort him. “Help’s almost here.”

Batman’s only response is to whimper again. His breathing picks up pace, becoming far too rapid.

“Pennyworth.” Robin snaps. “E.T.A.”

“Two minutes, sir.” comes the immediate reply. “How is he holding up.”

Robin sucks in a deep breath as he looks down at the head cradled in his lap. The skin of his face that’s visible is far too pale and slick with sweat. 

“Not good.” He answers after a moment, just barely managing to keep his voice from trembling. 

Batman lets out another whimper, this one louder than before.

Robin hushes him again, even though he knows his brother is already too far gone to really hear him. He wishes he could at least run his hands through Grayson’s hair - it’s something he himself finds comforting - but he daren’t remove the cowl to do so. There’s too much of a chance that someone could stumble upon them on this abandoned rooftop and there’s no way he’s going to risk exposing either of their identities. 

Robin sucks in another deep breath and silently directs every curse he knows at Scarecrow for causing this. 

Batman and Robin had been hunting Scarecrow for four nights now, but he had somehow managed to stay one step ahead of them. Until tonight, when they’d both been so sure that they’d finally caught up with him. But they’d walked right into a trap, following the screams of a supposed fourth victim in as many nights. 

Batman had been the first one to reach the door behind which the screams had emanated from. As such, it was him that had been caught in the trap. 

The moment he stepped through the doorway, a steam of gas had been pumped straight into his face. He’d shouted for Robin to stay back. Being a few steps behind Batman, Robin had only just managed to get a respirator into his mouth before the gas had reached him. 

Batman, on the other hand, had no such luxury and had collapsed mere seconds after being hit by the gas.

 

It hadn’t taken long for Robin to realise that the screams that continued to fill the air were coming from a speaker in the middle of the room rather than a person. 

Then he sprang into action, taking only enough time to ensure that no thugs were about to jump them, and to collect a sample of the gas from the nozzle of the hose that had sprayed the gas into Batman’ face, before tending to Batman.

Robin thinks that Scarecrow must have laced the fear gas with some kind of paralytic because Batman had barely even been able to stand, and Robin practically had to carry him up to the rooftop. He’d even somehow managed to twist his ankle under Batman’s considerable weight. 

By the time he reached the rooftop and radioed Pennyworth for an emergency pick-up, Robin was shaking from exertion. Batman, on the other hand, shook from fear. 

Relief floods Robin when the Batplane finally arrives what feels like a lifetime later. Pennyworth steps out of the plane and hurriedly helps Robin get Batman onto the plane. 

Pennyworth administers and antidote, and Damian thinks the ordeal is finally over. But then, halfway home, Grayson begins to scream, and Damian realises that this is far from over. 

Once they get back to the cave and Pennyworth has Grayson settled in the infirmary, he disappears into the lab with the sample Damian had collected to engineer a new antidote, leaving Damian to watch over his older brother. 

Grayson has begun to alternate between screaming and sobbing. He cries for his parents. He cries for Father. He cries for so many others. 

He cries for Damian. 

Damian doesn’t know what to do. He’s never seen his brother like this, and he never wants to ever again. He can barely stand Grayson’s cries anymore, but he refuses to leave his side. 

Finally, Damian does the only thing he can think of. He climbs up onto the gurney and wraps himself around Grayson, hoping against hope that amidst all the fear, his brother will at least somehow feel him and know that he’s not alone. 

An eternity later, Pennyworth returns with an antidote and wastes no time administering it. 

It takes a good few minutes for the antidote to take effect. Damian doesn’t move from where he’s wrapped himself around his brother. Pennyworth sits on Grayson’s other side, holding on to his hand.

Eventually, Grayson’s screams die down to whimpers, which slowly become less and less until they stop completely, and his breathing returns to normal. 

Damian doesn’t move until he hears his brother speak.

“Dami? Alfred?” he asks, his voice hoarse. 

From the other side of Grayson, Damian hears Pennyworth let out a long sigh of relief, and he feels his own body finally relax. 

“It’s good to have you back, my boy.” Pennyworth says and Damian turns his head up just in time to see the old butler push Grayson’s sweat damp hair away from his forehead.

“Thanks.” Grayson murmurs, exhaustion evident in his hoarse voice.

“You should get some rest.” Pennyworth says, “You both have been through quite the ordeal.”

Grayson lets out a humourless chuckle and then glances down at Damian with bloodshot eyes. “Hey Lil D.”

“Grayson.” Damian says. “Pennyworth is correct. You should rest.”

Grayson hums. “After a shower and a change. I don’t know about you, but I feel gross and sleeping in uniform is never fun.”

Damian considers this for a moment before relenting. “Very well. But then sleep.”

Grayson nods. “For both of us.”

Once they’ve showered and Pennyworth has (after annoyingly noticing Damian’s very slight limp) tended to Damian’s mildly sprained ankle, he and Grayson slowly make their way upstairs. Damian is sure his whole body will be sore in the morning, but he’d accepted some pain medication for his ankle so for now he feels fine. 

Damian follows Grayson into his room and slips under the covers after him. He curls into Grayson’s side and feels Grayson’s arm wrap around him.

“Thank you for staying.” Grayson murmurs once he’s turned the bedside light off.

“Of course.” Damian murmurs in return. 

It doesn’t take long for Grayson’s breathing to even out into sleep. Only once he’s sure that Grayson is truly resting does Damian allow his own exhaustion to roll over him, finally joining his brother in slumber.


	4. Music

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have only read one (1) panel from the Ric Grayson arc. I have no idea of the circumstances that lead to that arc or how (if???) it was resolved. But you can totally look at this as a what should have happened instead.

It’s the music that draws him further into the mansion everyone says he knows. Mr. Wayne - Bruce - had brought him here from the hospital and told him to stay put for a while. Everyone says he knows Bruce too - apparently the man had raised him. He doesn’t remember. Everyone also says that his name is Dick Grayson. He doesn’t remember that either. He doesn’t remember anything. 

Left alone in a spacious den, Dick quickly discovers that, when he’s not on as many drugs as he had been in the hospital, he doesn’t seem to like sitting still very much. So when a soft melody slowly drifts through the air to tickle his ears, he follows it. 

It leads him through the huge foyer with its gleaming marble floors and up two flights of stairs. It’s when he reaches the top of those stairs when he identifies the sound of violin music. The melody leads him to a hallway with well worn floors. It’s the first place he’s come across in this mansion that actually feels lived in. And it’s then when he realises that he recognises the melody. 

It’s the first time since he’d woken up in a hospital just over two weeks ago that he’s felt something familiar. It stops him in his tracks and he has to reach a hand out to a wall to steady himself. He slams his eyes closed and focuses as hard as he can on that familiar feeling. 

The melody continues to drift towards him, louder than before, filling his ears. He inhales deeply and recognises the scent that can only be described as home. 

His eyes fly open and he takes in his surroundings with new eyes. He’s caught somewhere in between remembering and not remembering. He knows this hallway, but he also doesn’t. He feels frustration building up in his stomach but he pushes it down, forcing himself to focus on the melody again. 

He allows it to carry him forward until he stands before a door that’s cracked open just enough to let sliver of sunlight shine through, and to allow the melody to spill out. It’s a sad and haunting melody, but it’s also so beautiful. And so, so familiar.

He’s hit by a memory so suddenly that it takes his breath away.

His own fingers, gliding over the keys of a piano.

“What are you playing?” A young voice asks. 

“Don’t know.” Dick answers without missing a note on the piano. “I just know it was my mother’s favourite. She played it so often when I was little that I had the tune memorised. Didn’t take me long to figure out how to play it after Alfred taught me how to play the piano.” 

His mother’s song carries on unhindered for a moment before the voice speaks again. “It’s a beautiful melody.”

“Yeah.” Dick says as he plays the last note, allowing it to linger in the air before turning to face his little brother. “Would you like me to teach it to you? I’ve always imagined that it would sound amazing on the violin.”

Damian’s face brightens. “That would be acceptable.” he says as he sits down next to Dick. “Perhaps when I have mastered it, we could play it together.”

Dick smiles, a warm feeling filling up his chest. “I’d like that.” 

Dick’s eyes snap open in the present just as his mother’s song comes to an end behind the door in front of him. He pushes the door open to reveal the young boy that had come to visit him in hospital a few times with Bruce - Damian.

“Grayson.” Damian says, obviously surprised by Dick’s sudden presence. “I did not realise that Father had brought you home already.”

Damian slowly puts his violin down, regarding Dick carefully. The boy obviously doesn’t know how to act around the man who doesn’t remember being his older brother. 

“That song.” Dick says. “I remember it.”

Damian's eyes widen. “You should. You taught it to me.” 

Dick nods. “I remember… on a piano.”

Damian nods earnestly, his face brightening almost as much as it had in Dick’s memory. “What else do you remember?”

“You.” Dick breathes. “I remember you.”

Before the words even finish leaving Dick’s mouth, Damian has crossed the room and wrapped his arms tightly around Dick’s waist. 

Dicks own arms automatically wrap around Damian, and everything about having this boy in his arms feels right. For the first time, Dick knows that he really is exactly where he’s supposed to be.

He may not remember much else right now, but for the moment knowing Damian, and knowing that he loves his little brother so much, is enough. There’ll be time to work on the rest later.


	5. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fluff. So much fluff. Literally and figuratively. All the fluff.

“Hey, Lil D.” Dick says, entering Damian’s roof with a small warm body cradled in his arms. 

“Grayson.” Damian says by way of greeting, but doesn’t look up from his sketchpad.

Dick recognises the look on his little brother’s face as one as complete focus and knows he won’t have Damian’s full attention until the teen has gotten whatever detail he’s struggling with just right. So he sits down and Damian’s bed, content to sit and pet the ball of fluff he’d brought with him while he waits. 

“Is there something you need?” Damian asks after a moment, still not looking up from his drawing but Dick can see that he’s not quite as focused as before.

“Well,” he says, grinning as he draws out the word. “I just picked this sleepy little girl up, and I was wondering if you would help me train her.”

Damian turns to face Dick’s so fast that Dick’s almost afraid that he’ll get whiplash and it doesn’t take long for his eyes to fall on the husky puppy sleeping comfortably on Dick’s lap. 

Dick watches fondly as Damian’s entire face lights up at the sight and goes soft the way it only ever does for animals. 

“You did not inform me that you were planning on getting a puppy!” he says excitedly as he moves over to the bed and begins to pet the puppy. “You did adopt her, right?”

“Of course.” Dick says. “I picked him up from the dog shelter. Apparently she and his siblings were dumped on a street corner in a cardboard box. Luckily someone found them and brought them into the shelter. All her siblings had been adopted already, she was the only one left.”

Damian nods. “I am glad she and all her siblings were able to find homes.” 

The puppy wakes up with a sleeping yawn, revealing two brilliant blue eyes, and immediately begins to sniff Damian’s hand. 

“She’s beautiful.” Damian outright coos, causing Dick to grin. He loves the way animals - especially baby animals - never failed to draw the real kid out of Damian. 

“Have you chosen a name for her yet?” Damian asks, gently taking the puppy into his own arms and giggling as she licks his face.

“I was thinking Azure, for the colour of her eyes.” Dick says with a warm smile on his lips as he watches his brother with his puppy.

“That is an acceptable name.” Damian says, still cooing at the puppy even as she moves off his lap to explore his bed, tail wagging all the way. 

“You mentioned training her?” Damian says, watching her with a bright smile on his face.

“Yeah, she’ll need to be house-trained, of course, but it would be cool if you can train her to defend herself like you did with Titus, too.” 

Damian nods and reaches out to run his hand down Azure’s back as she moves back toward them. She responds to immediately roll over onto her back for belly scratches, wagging her tail so hard that her whole body wiggles.

Both Dick and Damian chuckle and Dick reaches out to scratch behind her ear as Damian goes for her belly. 

“You will need to bring her here almost daily for the training to be truly effective.” Damian says. “But huskies are highly intelligent. I have no doubt that she will be a fast learner.”

“We’ll I’m going to be here for the next couple of weeks at least.” Dick says, revealing the other surprise he had for Damian and watches with a grin as Damian’s head snaps up from the puppy with a look of pure, disbelieving, delight.

“Really?”

Dick nods. “Yeah, I’ve been working on a case with the BPD that’s lead us into Gotham. So Commissioner Gordon put together a joint task-force and I got put on it. Which means that I’ll be staying here while we work on it.”

Dick doesn’t know if he’s ever seen his little brother quite so happy and it warms him up right to his core. 

“And the timing couldn’t be any better since I was going to pick Azure up today, anyway. So training her could be something we do together while I’m here. And when I say that, I mean you get to train me how to take care of her and then show me all the cool tricks you taught her while I was at work.”

Damian is positively beaming as he nods his agreement. “That is an agreeable arrangement. We should get started immediately.” he says, jumping up to dig his clicker and some treats out of his bedside drawer.

Dick grins and stands up to, bringing Azure up with him. “Lead the way, Sensei.” 

Damian’s smile turns smug. “To the backyard!” 

Neither of them stop smiling for the rest of that evening.


	6. Rain

In the distance, thunder rumbles, signaling the approach of another one of Gotham’s famous early-morning thunderstorms. From his warm, spacious bed, Dick Grayson watched dispassionately as drops of water landed on his window pane. 

 

It was well past the time he would normally have been up, but he has no desire to get out of bed. Today, he has no desire to do anything. He simply wants to be left alone. 

 

Alfred understands. He knows what today is. He won’t bother Dick other than to bring in food that will be left uneaten. He’ll leave Dick be.

 

Another tear rolls down his cheek and a sob builds up in his chest, but he’s already spent all morning crying and he simply doesn’t have the energy to get into another crying fit so he fights it down. A knife twists in his heart and he squeezes his eyes shut against the pain. 

 

Today is the anniversary of his parents’ death. And it’s the first one since Bruce’s death. Dick didn’t think he would ever hurt as much of the anniversary as he had on the first one ever again, but he’d been wrong, because today he’s mourning both of his fathers, and it hurts more than anything he’s ever experienced.

 

He hears his bedroom door open and bites back a groan as he identifies Damian’s light footsteps approaching his bed. He closes his eyes and tries to breathe deeply in an attempt to fool Damian into thinking he’s asleep. Maybe the kid will think he’s sick and leave him alone. 

 

“Grayson.” Damian says, a hint of irritation in his voice. “I know you are not really sleeping.” 

 

For a moment, Dick seriously considers pulling the covers up over his head and ignoring Damian until he goes away. He doesn’t have the energy for this. But he’d heard more than irritation in Damian’s voice - there’d been some genuine concern in there and he doesn’t want his little brother worrying over him for nothing. So he slowly peels open his eyes and is mildly surprised to find Damian has crouched down to be at eye level with him with a concerned frown on his face. 

 

“Hi Dami.” Dick whispers, his voice hoarse from his earlier crying spell.

 

Damian’s frown deepens and Dick winces. 

 

Lighting flashes, followed by another rumble of thunder, this one louder than before.

 

“Pennyworth informed me of the date. I have come to see if there is anything you need.” Damian says.

 

Pain lances up Dick’s chest once more. Damian looks so much like his Father and it only makes Dick miss Bruce even more. Tears well up in his eyes and he squeezes them shut.

 

“No.” he manages to choke out after a moment. “I - I’m fine.”

 

“Tt. No, you are not.” Damian says bluntly.

 

Dick’s breath hitches. He’s definitely not fine - far, far from it - but he doesn’t want to burden his little brother with this. Damian already carries so much on his shoulders as it is. 

 

Damian doesn’t give him a choice, though.

 

The next thing Dick knows, Damian’s crawled under the covers and curled up against Dick’s chest. 

 

“Dami…” Dick’s voice breaks as says his brother’s name. 

 

“Hush.” Damian cuts him off. “You once told me that it’s okay to accept comfort when you need it. I know that you find comfort in physical contact, so that is what I am giving you. And I know that you are not a hypocrite, so you will not reject this.”

 

If he hadn’t been on the verge of breaking down again, Dick might have laughed at how  _ Damian  _ that sounded. As it was he simply wraps his arms around his little brother and pulls him closer.

 

“I’ll stay here as long as you need me to.” Damian says, echoing Dick’s own words from not too long ago.

 

It’s the final straw. The dam Dick had been trying to hold back finally breaks. Tears stream down his face and sobs begin to wrack his tired body once more. 

 

Outside, the rain begins to pour. 


	7. Reunion

It takes Damian less than a month to find out that Dick Grayson is, in fact, not dead. And it happens entirely by accident. He’d been in the middle of doing research for a case on the BatComputer while his father was at work when a notification identified only as ‘37’ had popped up. 

 

Curious, Damian clicks on the notification and finds a report on the spy agency, Spiral, and that’s all it takes to get completely distract Damian from the research he had been doing in favour of finding out what his father’s been up to. It’s while he’s digging through that data that he makes the surprising discovery that Agent 37 is actually Grayson, who is very much alive. 

 

A dozen emotions flick through Damian at once, ranging from disbelief to joy to fury. And it takes him all of five minutes to come to a decision. 

 

He goes up stairs, packs a bag, tells Pennyworth he’s going to the monks he’d stayed with for those months directly after his mother had left him with his father. Once at the airport, however, he takes a plane to Paris instead - the last place Grayson had reported from. 

 

It takes about a week, but Damian finally manages to track Grayson down to a cafe in Prague. He watches from the window of an antique shop across the street as Grayson has a meeting with a decidedly shady looking character. Then, once Grayson leaves his meeting, Damian adjusts his backpack’s straps, pulls the hood of his jacket over his head, and tails Grayson through the city streets.

 

He has no intention of blowing any cover Grayson may currently have, and he knows from his search through his father’s correspondence with Agent 37 that Father had not mentioned Damian’s return from the dead to Grayson. So he’d rather have their reunion happen in private.

 

That idea seems to be shot down, however when Damian follows Grayson down an alley only to find the alley completely empty. 

 

Damian freezes and curses under his breath. He couldn’t have come down this alley by mistake! He’d kept he’d never lost sight of Grayson. He  _ knows  _ he saw Grayson enter this alley!

 

His thoughts are cut off a moment later as he’s grabbed from behind and shoved face first into a wall.

 

“Alright, kid.” says the voice Damian had less than two weeks ago thought he’d never hear again. “Who are you, who do you work for, and why are you following me?”

 

Damian opens his mouth to answer but no words come out. This is not at all how Damian had thought their reunion would go and he finds that he doesn’t know how what to say.

 

“Hey.” Grayson says, impatience clear in his tone as he presses Damian harder into the wall. “You lost the ability to talk or something? I asked you a question!”

 

Damian finally finds his words again and sucks in a deep breath before saying. “If you check the contents of my backpack, I believe you will find the answers you are looking for.”

 

Damian feels Grayson freeze at the sound of his voice and can only imagine what must be going through the older man’s mind as he recognises the voice of his supposedly dead younger brother. 

 

Grayson doesn’t say anything, and doesn’t let Damian go as he zips open the backpack and begins to go through it, but Damian can feel a frantic edge in his brother’s movements. He also knows the moment when Grayson finds his own old stuffed elephant at the bottom of Damian’s backpack.

 

Grayson’s grip moves from Damian’s shoulder to his arm in one fluid motion, spinning him around to face Grayson’s stricken face. 

 

“Dami?” he whispers as he reaches out a trembling hand to touch Damian’s face.

 

“Hello, Grayson.” Damian says, his own voice soft as he leans into Grayson’s touch. “You look as if you have seen a ghost.”

 

Grayson’s eyes go wide and then his lips curl up and he laughs. Then he uses the hand still on Damian’s arm to pull him into a tight hug. 

 

“Oh God, Damian.” he just short of sobs.

 

Damian wraps his own arms as tightly as he can around his brother and fails to keep tears from spilling slipping out of his eyes. He hadn’t thought he’d ever be held by Grayson again, and now that it’s happening it doesn’t feel real. 

 

All too soon, Grayson loosens his grip and pushes Damian far enough away to look at him and Damian is unsurprised to see tears still streaking down his face as well.

 

He wipes Damian’s own tears away with his thumb. “It’s really you. You’re alive. You’re right here! Oh my God, Damian, how? How are you here? How… how did you  _ find  _ me?”

 

“Tt.” Damian says, wiping under his nose with his sleeve. “I am the son of the the World’s Greatest Detective.”

 

Grayson lets out another laugh and reaches out the ruffle Damian’s hair. “That you most definitely are. But that doesn’t answer my other questions.”

 

“I know.” Damian says, “But I believe that will be a conversation better suited to somewhere more private, don’t you.”

 

Grayson seems to remember for the first time that they’re still in an alley in the middle of Prague. “Oh, yeah that’s a good idea. The place I’m staying at isn’t far from here. And I found a place just around the corner that sells the  _ best  _ hot chocolate.” 

 

Damian smiles. “I look forward to tasting it.”

 

Grayson grins and pulls Damian in for another hug, this one much shorter than before but just as warm and filled with love.

 

“I love you, Dami.” Grayson says. “So much.”

 

Damian returns the hug just as tightly. “I love you too, Grayson.”


End file.
